You’ll have to read Closed for Good? The “Retail Apocalypse” in Britain since 2005 to find out why this post title.
I mentioned Argos in my last post. In Thanet, where I live, Argos retained its branches in Margate and Ramsgate – Ramsgate longer than Margate – after it opened one at the Westwood Cross out-of-town centre (at the edge of the three main Thanet towns, really). It closed them over time: Margate became a gym, and Ramsgate’s been empty for years; when Sainsbury’s bought Argos and imported it into its supermarkets, Argos at Westwood Cross became a generously-sized charity shop. Next door in this photo is Homebase, which has closed since, taking with it Bathstore, which failed five years ago.
The apocalypse has brought us much bigger charity shops than we used to have, their preferential rents being better for landlords than no rents at all. M&Co in Margate is now a giant BHF.
